A 19-year-old teenager who was killed by a dog in a flat in Bristol has been named as Morgan Dorsett.
She died after the dog attacked her on Wednesday while neighbours reported its owner ‘running from home hysterically screaming and covered in blood’.
The 19-year-old had been inside a flat on Cobhorn Drive, in the city’s Hartcliffe area, when she was mauled by what is believed to be an XL Bully around 7pm.
She was pronounced dead at the scene after an attempt by paramedics to save her.
Morgan’s family has thanked the public for their support and to those who have left flowers at the scene.
Two people – a man and a woman, both in their 20s – were arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death.
They were also arrested on suspicion of possession of a prohibited dog breed, believed to be an XL Bully.
The two have now been released on conditional bail while enquiries continue.
The dog, which police are still working to identify, has been put down.
A neighbour said the dog owner left their house covered in blood and sat in the street crying, according to The Sun.
They said: ‘It was almost like she was trying to scream, cry and ask for help all at the same time.
‘She sat on the steps and a few hours were going by and they didn’t arrest her or anything. She didn’t go back in at all.
‘She had blood on her. I don’t know if she was injured, trying to stop the dog from doing the attack.
‘She had it on her front. It was more than a little bit [of blood].’
Neighbour Doreen Tovey found it ‘very frightening’. She told BBC News: ‘I came out my house to see what all the commotion was.
‘[There were] loads of police cars, riot van, ambulance across the road from me.’
Gary Steadman, who said he heard ‘screaming’, described the dog as ‘big, butch and brown and white’.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Inspector Terry Murphy said the incident was ‘incredibly rare’.
‘The circumstances [officers] faced were “immensely difficult”, he said.
‘Our thoughts, first and foremost, are with the family of the young woman who’s tragically died as a result of yesterday evening’s incident.
‘A full investigation is now well under way to establish the full circumstances of the events that led to her death.
‘Police do not consider there to be any ongoing risk to the public.’
He declined to comment on whether the woman who died lived at the address where the incident happened, or if there had been previous police contact with the household.
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An 84-year-old man was seriously injured when another dog – also believed to be an XL Bully – dragged him into a garden on Bardsley Avenue, in Warrington, on Monday.
Police shot the suspected XL Bully dead, and shot a second dog 19 times. A third smaller dog was also seized.
Last February, the government banned the ownership or possession of an XL Bully dog in England and Wales, unless you have a valid certificate of exemption.
It’s also illegal to sell, abandon, give away or breed an XL Bully, or to have one in public without a lead or muzzle.
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